I am having Eddie and Stewart hang out some together now. Thank goodness for them. They add such a light to my days. They REALLY like each other - as I type right now, Eddie is bobbing at Stewart's face, feeding him regurgitated seeds, and they are chasing each other around the desk and keyboard.

I adore Stewart. He is steady and funny and so loving! He rubs on my fingers to get me to "skitch" his neck and head, then closes his eyes in ecstasy. He leans to Eddie to have Eddie preen him too, but Eddie isn't that confident yet. He got so used to Ying-Kwei and Jaz bossing him that he's a little "gun shy" and remains cautious. But Eddie loves to feed him and sometimes gets up the nerve to touch Stewart's back with his beak.

Right now Stewie is on my right wrist and Eddie is on the keyboard bobbing at him, making clicking sounds, and saying "I love you, I love you, Eddie, I love YOU, Come on, come on up!" At one point Stewart backed Eddie right off the desk to the floor, and I said to Eddie. "Looks like he got a little too close, huh?" and as I reached for him, Eddie said "Yeeeaaahhhh..." I laughed.

...

Last evening I was watching TV with Eddie and Stewart on the couch. Stewart became very very busy separating and sorting out each thread in the fringe on the couch blanket. He had to test and tug a little and twirl with his teeny little budgie tongue while I watched the TV. Eddie, however, was in an exploring mood. Heaven help anyone that get in his way or tries to stop him. He hopped from pillow to pillow, kicked dirt around in the ficus tree on the end table, and at one point stood on top of my head orating to the commercials.

Well, when Stewart heard all this orating, he had to see what Eddie saw on top of my head. As he climbed, Stewart slipped a little here and there, and ended up perching with one foot on my nose, and the other on my bottom lip. And that was as far as he was going. Eddie continued to verbalize his varied opinions, and I watched television for several minutes through the little chicken legs of a budgie. I will say his little warm body felt so wonderful on my face.

When enough was just enough, Eddie hopped down from his roost, and proceeded to work his way down to my toes, then *hop* down to the living room floor. Intriged, Stewart followed, albeit not with as much grace...tripping and fluttering to the floor. I got up to fetch them back, and Eddie headed for the hills at a clip even Jesse Owens would have admired. So I walked past this little white whirling dirvish (with a little blue one right behind), and began to walk across the living room. Eddie got excited when I said "Okay Eddie, let's go!" and proceeded to run after me, including a fancy little footwork in it as he twirled in circles occasionally. Stewart was not far behind, but this being his first trip on the floor, he was quite a bit more serious about it. We proceeded down the hallway, hopping onto the slippery linoleum and gaining speed in the entry way, and way back to the carpet and down the hallway. They looked like two little wind-up toys those two. Running and running.

We got to the bedroom door, and they stopped, side by side. Eddie's no fool. Bedroom = cage = bedtime. He summoned help. In his tiniest voice from the floor he said, "Come on Eddie, come up here." So I leaned down, scooped him up, scooped Stewart with the other hand, and asked "You ready for bed?" Eddie hesitated a moment, then said "Yeeeaaah. What do ya think?" I answered that I thought he was right. He replied "Thank you." And into their cage they went (together in the same cage now). I covered the cage, and heard a very meek "I love you". This is what it's all about kids. It doesn't get much better than that.